I once met Bill Gates, Sr., at a meeting where he spoke for the Responsible Wealth project, of which he and Buffett are both members. I spoke to Gates after the meeting, and he agreed with me that one of the reasons wealthy people should pay more in taxes than the rest of us is that they have more of a stake in the nation’s functioning than the rest of us.

Every every dollar invested in a business represents a stake in having safe and functional roads and bridges, police and fire protection, a working court system, and even an educated and healthy pool of potential workers to hire.

Buffett has many billions more reasons than I have to pay for those benefits to businesses.

Gates told me that instead of calling the income tax “progressive”, we should start to call it “proportional”. Which is what it is, when we pay in proportion to how we benefit.

More from Bolton:

Sen. Ben Nelson, a centrist Democrat from Nebraska, said he wasn’t sure whether Buffett’s chat would embolden his colleagues to raise taxes.

Alex, Ben Nelson is not a centrist. He’s far to the right of most Democrats, and that makes him a right winger. I wish you’d start getting these terms straight.